We can see this W3C initiative not only as an attack on the traditional
underpinnings of the internet, but through that as an attack on open source
software such as Linux. Consider these quotes from Microsoft's internal
"Halloween II" memo:
"Beat commodity protocols / services"
"Linux's homebase is currently commodity network and server
infrastructure. By folding extended functionality into today's
commodity services and create new protocols, we raise the bar &
change the rules of the game."
and later:
"The effect of patents and copyright in combatting Linux remains to
be investigated."
This W3C initiative seems all too well aligned with those observations.
Perhaps we should focus on the possibility that Microsoft has exercised
undue influence in this particular W3C initiative, and perhaps this is an
question that should be examined within the scope of the current anti-trust
procedings.
It would serve Microsoft's purposes very well indeed to engineer new,
patent-based, barriers to entry for internet-based applications, and at the
same time erode the long-term credibility of the W3C as a standards setting
body.
--
Daniel